Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
Opening of the
2nd General Assembly by Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO
©UNESCO / D.Stehl
The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage met from 18 to 22 February 2008 for its second extraordinary session in Sofia, Bulgaria. This was the fourth session of the Committee in 16 months after the ones held in Algiers, Chengdu and Tokyo. The Sofia meeting marked the final stage of the elaboration by the Committee of the first draft Operational Directives for the implementation of the Convention.
93 States Parties to the Convention met for the second General Assembly and renewed half of the Intergovernmental Committee by electing 12 new members.
The General Assembly also selected the emblem that best reflected the purpose and spirit of the Convention from among 1297 proposals submitted by artists from 101 Member States of UNESCO.
Now that the General Assembly approved of the Operational Directives, the Convention is fully operational.
